The others
by Pontifex Maximus
Summary: Post ROTF: Sometimes you act like a baby, especially when it comes to nightmares. Sam finds Ratchet in a strange situation and calls Ironhide for help. Ratchet/Ironhide, light slash.


**AUTHOR'S NOTE: The idea for this drabble came from nowhere, nearly haunting me. I know that nightmares are very often used in stories, yet I decided to give this one a try. **

**And, I'm not a native speaker, so forgive me any mistakes ^^' **

**WARNINGS: Ironhide/Ratchet light slash. If you don't like male/male relationships, don't read! **

The recreation room in the NEST base was surprisingly quiet this night. Mostly all bots were half asleep; only Jolt and Sideswipe remained awake, attemtping to watch TV. Ironhide was making strange noises in his recharge, lying flat on a huge couch. Ratchet was missing.

Sam Witwicky was sitting between Sideswipe and Jolt, munching on his popcorn, Mikaela's head resting on his lap.

When the movie ended, Mikaela lifted her head from Sam's lap and looked at her watch.

„Oh my, it's almost midnight! My dad's going to kill me. We have to go."

Sam put his now empty bowl of popcorn aside, and cast a glance at his own watch.

„Yup, just a minute, Mikaela. I want to say goodbye to Ratchet, he helped me a lot with chemistry homework today. Actually, he did it for me. I'll just say thank you and we're ready to go."

„Sure." Mikaela rose from the human-sized couch, waved at the awake bots and went out of the hangar to look for Bee and ask him to pick them up.

Sam was on his way to the medbay, moving as quickly as he could. When the automatic door slipped open, he stepped inside.

The huge room was hardly visible; the only light was a small lamp on Ratchet's desk. Sam eyed the medbay curiously and spotted a large neon-yellow form on a berth.

He moved closer and then it ocurred to him that something wasn't right.

Ratchet was shifting from one side to another, gasping and waving his hands vividly. His optics were offline, but from the moves he was making Sam could tell that he was having a nightmare.

Ratchet's fingers clutched to an invisible material, as if he had been trying to remain in place, being pulled by some strange force.

He cried out suddenly, his voice filled with fear and agony.

Sam didn't know what to do. He noticed the CMO's hands reach to his own faceplate and scratch it furiously, obviously trying to cause some damage.

Panicked, the boy ran out of the medbay and back to the recreation room.

Ironhide was lying on his stomach this time, his palms under his chin.

„Ironhide, wake up! Something's wrong with Ratchet!" Sam patted the black bot's arm. „Come on!"

Ironhide growled quietly as his optics came online.

„What?" He stirred.

„There's something wrong with Ratchet! He's screaming and trying to rip his optics out!"

The black mech quickly rose to his feet.

„Slag, again." He snapped and made his way to the medbay, Sam following him with a pale face.

As they appeared in the medbay, Ironhide jumped to Ratchet's side, holding the medic to his chest without a word. Sam was just staring, wondering what was going on. Ratchet seemed to calm down; he clung to his mate's chestplate like a baby, making purring noises.

„Hush now, Ratch', it's okay." Ironhide murmured, rocking back and forth. „They're gone."

Ratchet onlined his optics.

„'Hide?"

„I'm here. They won't hurt you anymore." The black mech whispered, stroking the CMO's brow gently. „I won't let them."

Sam opened his mouth as if to say something, but he remained quiet, watching the two mechs holding each other in a loving embrace.

„They were here again, 'Hide. I could see them, they were in the corner." The medic said flatly, his voice still holding some hints of fear.

Ironhide planted a light kiss on his mate's forehead.

„Lemme check. If they're still here, I'll blow their afts back to Cybertron, okay?"

Ratchet nodded faintly and watched as the black mech rose from the berth and checked the corner nearby.

„Ironhide?" Ratchet asked quietly, waiting for response.

„They're gone and won't come back." Ironhide sat back on the berth and allowed the medic to rest against his frame.

„You promise?"

„Yes. As long as I'm here, you're safe."

„Stay with me, then." Ratchet snuggled up closer, playing with the wires on Ironhide's neck. „I don't like sleeping alone."

Sam decided he'd seen enough. As silently as he could, he began to leave, turning around enough to receive a thankful nod from Ironhide.

The next day Sam found Ironhide in the shooting arena, practicing. He greeted him and sat under a tree, watching the black mech reload his cannon and shoot with a perfect aim.

Moments after, Ironhide turned to the boy and reached his huge hand out, letting Sam sit on it.

„I'm sure you want to know what happenned yesterday. I guess I owe you an explanation."

Sam nodded and allowed Ironhide to carry him around as the black mech was making his way to the beach.

„You know that Ratchet is very sensitive, don't ya? He doesn't show it, but he is. He's fragile like a sparkling. The nightmares he has... they are memories. Horrible memories. His CPU still can't cope with them."

Sam raised an eyebrown questioningly.

Ironhide sighed and started „At the beginning of the war, when Megatron was collecting his followers, Ratchet was kidnapped. As the best medic in the history of our race, he was forced to fix the badly damaged Megatron. The seekers, Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp, had torured him, trying to make him help Megatron. He still hasn't told me what exactly they had done to him, but I guess it was horrible. I suppose he had been even raped, but he'd never admit that. Since that day he has been having those nightmares and the only thing I can do is to be there with him and soothe him. He's still scared as slag, ya know."

Sam couldn't find any words. He felt sorry for Ratchet. He remained silent and allowed Ironhide to speak once again.

„But let this be our little secret, boy. Just me and you, okay? I don't want Ratch' to know that I'd told you."

Sam just smiled.

„Sure thing, big guy. Thanks for the trust."


End file.
